Plating barrel



I June 30, 1925. 1,544,188

J. w. SLATTERY PLATING BARREL Filed 001:. 29, 1925 :s Sheets-Sheet 1 June 30, 1925. 1,544,188

J. W. SLATTERY PLATING BARREL 1 Filed o t- 29, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 2 June 30, 1925.

- J. w. SLATTERY PLATING BARREL 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed 001.- 29, 1923 1 Suva-urea June 3rd, 1925.

if S T T ES JOHN W". SLATTEEY, OF BRIBGEPGR'E,

CORPORATIQN OF CGNNECTIGUT,

PATENT FFlQE-i.

or BtsInsErosT, conN-Eo'rrour, A

ELA-TING BARREL.

Application fi'led October 29, 1923.

To (HZ whom it may cancern:

lie it known that l, JOHN W Srn'r'rnnr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of lfonnecticut, have invented anew and useful Plating Barrel, of which the following is a specification;

This invention relates to plating barrels, such are used forelectro. plating, of relatively small articles, and has for an object to provide an improved barrel. for this purpose which will transmit a. larger current than that which can be used in the. barrels of substantially the same size'now generallyemployed, which will give better contact with the articles to. be plated and so will give a quicker deposit producing a better finish. which does not-have to be tumbled fter removal from the barrel, and to produce a barrel which will have a muchv greater capacity than similar sized barrels of the old. types.

With. these and other objects in view, I have devised the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, similar referencecharactersbeing employed throughout the various views to designate corresponding elements. In these drawings,

1 is a top plan view of the barrel lete.

r 1g. 2 is a side elevation of the same, pori he of the walls beingbroken' away to more clearly show the construction.

Fig, 3 is a side elevation of the bearing at the live end of the rotatable container, the view being substantially on line 3-3 of Fig, 2. T

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the rotatable container.

Fig. 5 is apartial! end view and partial transverse section thereof, the end View being taken from the right of Fig. i and the section being. substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of a portion of the other end of the containeiyand Fig. 7 is a detailed sectionv substantially on line 7.7 of Fig. 6... p

The device comprises a tank. or receptacle 10 for the electrolyte. This tank. may be of various constructions but is preferably made of wood, and comprises side members 11 having vertical grooves adjacent their ends Serial No. 671,410;

container being hexagonal, but it may, of

course, have other shapes if. desired. The opposite ends of. this element comprise hexa" gonalwooden blocks 15 which are connected by the side walls of. the container- These side walls comprise flat perforated plates 16 of suitable non-condiicting material, such as celluloid. Seated in notches inthe corners of the end blocks 15 are wooden strips 17 substantially Ll-shaped on their outer sides, as shown in Fig. 5, against which the side edges of. the plates 16 rest and to which. they are clamped. by longitudinally extend ing wooden bars 18 which have a V-shaped groove on their. inner edges" to receive the abutting edges. of'the plates 16,. and extend ing through. the strips 17 and, the bars 18 are suitable screw. bolts 19 for clamping these elements on the opposite sides ofv the abutting'plates 1-6,. as shown in Fig. 5; At their opposite ends over the blocks 15 the bars 18 are connected by suitable transverse wooden blocks 20 secured to the bars 18 by suitable screws 21. If the rotatable container is of sulficient length similar blocks 29.. are provided at. the center of the container To prevent the plates 16 buckling or yielding outwardly under the Weight of the articles. in thecontainer longitudinal wooden bars 23 are provided against the outer walls of these plates and forming a backing therefor, these bars beingseated in suitable recesses in. the blocks 20 and 22, and secured in position by suitable screws 24.

Secured to the outer walls of the blocks 15 are a pair of trunnion supports, in the present instance comprising spiders25 and 26,. these spiders being; preferably made of brass and carry the trunnions 27 and 28. These spiders are. secured: to the blocks by suitable-screws 29. Each spider has a plurality of radially extending. arms, in the present instance six, corresponding, to the number of bars 18, the arms on the spider 25 being shown at. 30 andthose on spider 26 at 31,. and these. arms. are eachsecured to the end of a wooden bar 18 by suitable screws These spiders rigidly secure the sides of the Container to the end blocks andralso form rigid supports for the trunnions on which the container rotates.

Means must be provided to allow for placing the articles to be plated within the container and to allow removal of the same therefrom when the plating operation is completed. F or this purpose one of the side panels is made removable. This panel is indicated at 33 and Comprises a perforated i celluloid plate the same as plates 16, but it nally extending wooden strips 37 are provided. This door or removable panel is Y adapted to seat between twobars 18, and for the purpose of removably securing it inposition a pair of threaded rods 38 extend radially, outward from the blocks 15 and pass through openings in the end blocks 34. Nuts 39 are threaded on these rods outside the blocks and serve to clamp the panel in position. By merely removing the nuts 39 the panel may be lifted out of position providing a large opening for insertion and removal of the articles to be plated. 'By merely placing the panel in position again and applying the nuts 39 it is securely fastened.

For the purpose of conducting the electric current from the articles in the container a plurality of conductor bars 40 are provided extending longitudinally of the container adjacent the inner walls thereof, and they are also preferably mounted in the corners'formed by the side panels, as shown in Fig.5. These bars may be of different shapes but are preferably rounded on their.

inner sides togive a large contact surface 7 v and to prevent injury to the articles to be plated. These'bars extend throughout the length of the container and throughopenings in the block 15 at the live end" of the container and through openings 41 in the arms 31 of the spider 26 where they form electrical contact with these arms of the spider. At their opposite ends they extend only part way through the block 15, the remainder of the openings being closed by 7 wooden plugs 42, as shown in Fig. 4. so that these bars are insulated from the dead end spider 25. For the purpose of clamping these bars in position and also insuring i proper'contact for passage of the current,

memes metal strips 43 are provided which are socured to the live end block 15 by suitable screws 44 and are clamped thereby against the ends of two adjacent coductor bars 40 bridging these two bars, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, that is one of thesebridge members for each pair of conductor bars.

At the live end of the container the trunnion 28 rests in the metal bearing 45 which is pen at its upper side to allow for easy insertion and removal of the trunnion. This trunnion is carried by a suitable wooden block 46 secured to an end wall 12 of the tank 10 by suitable lag screws 47 and is socured on the block by suitable screws 48. Extending over this bearing and secured in position by suitable screws 49 is a protecting wooden block 50, and extending through this block and having electrical contact with the'bearing 45 is a conductor 51, preferably a brass tube, to whichis connected one of the lead wires from the source of the current supply. A plate 52 of metal, such as aluminium, is .mounted .at the end of the trunnion to take any lateral thrust.

At the opposite end of the container the spider 25, which is insulated from the conductor bars 40, carriesthe other trunnion 27 which seats in a bearing 53. This bearing is also open at its upper side to allow for easy insertion and removal of the trunnion and is mounted on a stud 54 extending into a bracket 55' to which it is secured to by'a suitable set screw 56. Mounted to rotate on this stud between the bracket and the bearing is a sprocket 57 carrying on the inner side thereof a pair of spaced lugs 58 adapted to extend on opposite sides of a lug 59'carried by the spider 25. a driving connection between the sprocket57 and the container which however will not interfere with the easy insertion and removal of the container into and from the tank. A chain 60 leads from the sprocket 57 to a sprocket 61 mounted on a shaft 62 on the top of the tank. This shaft is mounted to rotate in hearings on suitable brackets 63 land 64' mounted on the tank, a collar 65 being secured to this shaft between these brackets to hold it in position. Loosely mounted on the shaft is another sprocket 66 connected by a suitable chain drive, not shown, to a source of power. For connecting this sprocket in driving relation with the shaft 52 a clutch 67 is provided slidable longitudinally on the shaft butfmounted to Thus there is 1 5%, rec

bracket 7 3 and operated by meansot a lever 74:. For the purpose of holding this clutch engaged, a pivoted lever 7 5 is provided having a hook 76 adapted toi engage the lever 74'.

F or carrying the anodes apair of suitable supporting bars 77 are mounted; on. the top of the tank onv opposite sides of the rotatable container which are connected by leadi wires 78 to the other pole of: current supply. The blocks of nickel: or whatever metal. is: being used for plating is suspended inv the electrolyte from these bars and have electrical connection with these bars through their supports.

In operation the tank is filled to the proper height with the electrolyte required, and the articles to be plated are placed with: in the rotatable container which when closed is immersed in the electrolyte; As the container rotatesthe articles will come successively into contact with the conductor bars 40, and the current passing from: the anodes to these articles, which form the cathode, through the electrolyte will deposit the plating metal on the surfaces of the articles. I t will be apparent that the con:- ductorbars will givea large contact surface for engagement with the articles to-be plated so that there may be a large current passed through the device. As these conductor bars are located adjacent the inner walls of the container they run under the articles so-that amuch better contact is se cured therewith. This feature is also increased by' having" the conductor bars inthe corners formed by the side panels onthecontainer. As a number of these bars maybe provided and thus an extended contact may be secured with the articles to be plated, it will be apparent that a. large current may be passed through the device, and therefore, I secure a fast quick deposit or the: plating metal and onethat is much. faster than. is possible in the old types of barrels. For this reason the surfaceof the plate is much smoother. In fact, in actual practice it has l cen found. that articles plated in thisbarrel have such a smooth finish that the later tumbling operation in sawdust and meal is not required. Where in the old types of barrels only fifty 01' sixty amperes can be passed through the apparatus I can get one hundred and sixty-five amperes through this device, and therefore, while in the old types ofbarrels I could only plate two hundred pounds per hour, in this barrel I can plate five hundred pounds per hour, thus more than doubling the capacity.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a plating barrel, a rotatable container for the articles to be plated, said 0011- tainer comprising insulating walls having openings therein, a plurality of separate, spaced, bare conductors extending longitudinally of the container adjacent the inside walls thereoiineans for conducting electric current to said conductors, a support, a stationary stud carried by the support having an open topped bearing, a trunnion on one end'of the container seated in said bearing, a sprocket mounted to -rotate on the stud, coacting lugs carried by the sprocket and container for rotating the latter,and means for driving the sprocket. 1

2; In a plating barrel, a container rotatable about a. horizontal axis and comprising perforated insulating walls, aplurality of spaced conductor bars extending longitudinally of the container adjacent the inner walls thereof and projecting through one end. of the container, a spider atone end of the container having" arms provided with openings to receive sa-id projecting ends: of

the bars for conducting electric current to said: bars, and means for rotating; the; coirtainer.

3. In a plating barrel, a. container rotatable about a horizontal axis and having insulating walls provided with openingsthe-rethrough, a plurality of spaced conductor bars extending longitudinally of the container adjacent the inner walls thereof, a metal support secured to one end: of; the container and having electrical connection with said bars, a. trunnion. carried. by said sup.- port, an open topped bearing for said trun nion, a wooden protecting block extending over the bearing, a: metal plate carried by the block forming a bearing for-theendof the trunnion, means for conducting electric current. to said bearing, and. means for retatingthe containers l. In a platingbarrel, a containersubstantially polygonal in cross-section and? rotatable about a horizontal. axis, said container comprising insulating walls haying: openings therethrough, a plurality of spaced: cone ductor bars extending longitudinally of the container and located adjacent the corners formed by the adjacent sides of the. cons tainer and extending through: one end of the container, a spider at one end of the container connected having radial arms provided with openings to receive a source of current supply and to said conductors and form electrical contact therewith, means for conducting electric current to the spider, and means for rotating the container.

5. In a plating barrel, a container rotatable about a horizontal axis and comprising insulating walls having openings therethrough, a plurality of spaced conductor bars extending longitudinally of the container adjacent the inner walls thereof, a trunnion carried by the container at one end thereof, a support for the trunnion connected to the container and having radially extending arms in contact with said bars to conduct electric current from the trunnion Zelectrical conductor connected tosaid bearing, and means for rotating the container.

6. In a plating barrel, a receptacle for electrolyte, hearings mounted 1n said receptacle,- a. container having trunnions at its from the trunnion to said bars, an electric,

conductor leading to the bearing for said trunnlon, and means at the opposite end'of the container for rotating the container.

7. In a plating barrel, a receptacle for electrolyte, bearings mounted in said receptacle, a container having trunnions at its opposite ends mounted in said hearings, said container having Walls of insulating material with openings therethrough, a plurality .of spaced conductor bars extending longitudinally of the container adjacent the inner Walls thereof, a spider secured to an end of the container and carrying one of the trunnions, said spider having arms provided with openings through Which the conductor bars extend, strips of conducting material secured to the end of the container and each engaging the ends of tWo of the conductor bars, a conductor leading to the bearing for said trunnion, and means for rotating the container.

8. In a plating barrel, a receptacle for electrolyte, bearings mounted in said receptacle, a container substantially polygonal in cross-section and comprising Walls of insulating material having openings therethrough, a plurality of spaced conductor bars extending longitudinally of the container on the inside thereof and located adj acent the corners formed by the sides of the Walls thereof at an acute angle, longitudinal bars outside said stripsand having a V- shaped groove von their inner Walls'corresponding to said strips, panels of perforated non-conducting material mounted with their edges between the bars and strips, trunnion supports secured to the blocks at the outer ends thereof and to the ends of said bars,

trunnions carried by said supports, bearings said container, bearings for said trunnions open at the top thereof, an electrical conductor leading from one of said bearings to a source of current supply, a plurality of longitudinally extending conductorbars in said container and electrically connected With-said bearing, the other bearing being mounted on a stationary stud, a sprocket mounted to rotate onsaid stud, a driving connection between the sprocket and the container including a pair of spaced lugs on one of the members and a lug on the other member extending between the first lugs, andmeans for rotating said sprocket. V

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN W. SLATTERY. 

